More apps equal more jobs for the Australian ICT workers.

In fact, the ‘App Economy’ has created an additional 23,000 tech jobs since March of 2017, a study has found.

The Australian App Economy, 2019 Update, released by the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) this week follows the 2017 iteration of the report.

It reveals that from March 2017 to January 2019 there was a 20% gain in App Economy jobs (from 113,000 to 136,000).

“Gain in App Economy jobs is partly driven by an increase in the overall number of ICT professionals, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, combined with a rising share of IT job openings that require App Economy skills, such as knowledge of iOS or Android,” said the PPI in a statement.

The report classifies an App Economy worker as anyone in an IT-related job that uses App Economy skills to support mobile apps, in a non-IT job (sales, marketing or admin) that supports App Economy jobs in the same enterprise, or a ‘spillover’ job in the local economy supported by the goods and services purchased by the enterprise or by the income flowing to core workers (such as building managers).

And while app-generated job growth has been substantial in recent years, the PPI anticipates the best could be yet to come.

“The App Economy still has room to grow,” details the report.

“Internet of Things (IoT) mobile connections are estimated to reach 4.1 billion by 2024, increasing at an annual growth rate of 27%. Consumers and businesses are increasingly interfacing with physical objects and processes through their smartphones and tablets via the IoT.”

The continued rise of smart homes, e-commerce, manufacturing analytics, smart farming, telemedicine and drones is also tipped to assist in the growth of the App Economy.

iOS or Android?

With the iPhone now approaching its 12th birthday, the iOS ecosystem is leading the way when it comes to creating jobs for app developers.

The report found that there are 121,000 Australian jobs in the iOS ecosystem, up 25% from 2017. This was compared with 106,000 Android jobs, up 22%.

Apps as an export

Additionally, apps are now an Australian export in the digital economy, the report found.

Australian companies like iAuditor, Stashd, Procreate, Invoice2Go and Canva are all making waves overseas by generating users across hundreds of countries.